Distribution centers are required at times to supply less than caseload quantities of a large variety of products to a number of different customers. The process of assembling orders of less than caseload quantities of products is generally referred to as "broken case order picking". To reduce cost and errors associated with broken case order picking automated order dispensing systems (AOS) are installed in the distribution centers.
A typical AOS is comprised of a central conveyor and a plurality of product dispensers contiguous to the central conveyor. Each product dispenser is loaded with a particular product. A central controller causes the necessary dispensers to place on the central conveyor the correct quantity of particular products required to fill an order. At the end of the conveyor, the products are packaged for delivery to the customer.
The primary task of a product dispenser is the controlled dispensing of products onto the central conveyor. The product dispenser must, therefore, "singulate" products so that each may be counted out of the dispenser onto the central conveyor in the correct quantities. Most dispensers are designed for, or dedicated to, dispensing particular products. On the other hand, a vertical or compartmentized conveyor dispenser, sometimes also called a carousel dispenser, has compartments for holding a product to be dispensed from the vertical conveyor. It is not dedicated to any particular product and is ideal for singulating and dispensing products that are bulky or oddly shaped. Products are manually or automatically loaded into the compartments of the vertical conveyor. Operation of the vertical conveyor causes the compartment nearest the bottom of the conveyor to spill its contents onto the central conveyor.
In prior art vertical conveyor dispensers, the size of the compartments are fixed. If the size of the compartments is small, the selection of products that can be dispensed is very limited. If the size of the compartments are made large enough to accommodate a wide range of sizes and shapes of products, the number of products a dispenser holds is limited, thus requiring more dispensers on the central conveyor, and further requires loading more often since there are fewer compartments on the vertical conveyor.